Go Set a Watchman

I feel the need to start off this review with a warning: if you loved To Kill a Mockingbird, then don't read this novel. Go Set a Watchman is little more than fan fare in comparison to the brilliant novel that came before it (at least as far as publishing is concerned). At its very worst, this novel feels like it was a bad fan fiction piece. It does not feel like a novel that Harper Lee wrote. It instead feels like the characters are from another novel entirely. All of the loveable characters are replaced by characters who are shells of their former selves.

There is one thing that I do like about this novel, and that is the lesson that Scout learns about her father: that her father is not a perfect man. Especially considering Mockingbird's childlike narrative, one sees that Atticus is now a flawed figure. I must admit that this was something I did not like in the first novel. I thought that Atticus was somewhat of a archetypal hero, without any flaws or faults, and now the reader learns that he does have faults, which make him more human and a more believable character.

Now that that is out of the way, let's get to the (unfortunately) many things that I did not like about this novel. This novel is a perfect example of the fact that some things are never meant to be questioned. From what I understand, Watchman was the first novel that Harper Lee ever wrote. She tried to get it published, and no one would take it. Then, a friend of hers came along and help her to revise the work until it became what we now know as Mockingbird. Given this, you may say, “Gee, I wonder what To Kill a Mockingbird was like before all the revisions.” Well, let me look at you now, shake my head, and say “No, no you don't”. This is because, for the good of your love of Mockingbird, I think you should never read this novel. It is clear that this would have made Lee a completely forgotten author, had any of this ever been released as it was. It features none of the loveable characters from the first novel. Many of the previous characters are absent from this one. Instead, those characters we do get are either ones we didn't want (like Aunt Alexandra) or ones we didn't need (like Scout's boyfriend who is NOT Dill Harris). Calpernia does make a small cameo, but other than that, many different characters feel like they are unneeded.

Then there is the elephant in the room (so to speak): the idea of Atticus being a member of the KKK and a racist. While I do think it gives dimension to his character, I must also ask why it was needed in the first place. The reasons for him being in the clan are not explained very well. At best, he says that it was a young man's curiosity to join them for one meeting, and then he never went another day in his life. Henry (Scout's boyfriend) tries to explain his involvement in the city council against the NAACP in a different manner. He says that he was there because the town expects him to be there, and that if her is not, he will be shunned, and considered a social pariah by the community. While it certainly is not a good reason with hindsight, it is an interesting study in the ideas of social norms and groupthink of the community. Nevertheless, Atticus is not given very clear motivations as to his actions, in my opinion, and that makes this book seem simply pointless to me. This is especially true given what a strong role model of a character we had in Mockingbird.


I think that this story can be summed up as one that was unneeded and that no one asked for. I know now, due to this book, that I will not be clammering for the first written draft of John Green's Looking for Alaska, (which, according to him, is nothing like the finished product) not because I love the original book, but because some of these stories that author's first write suck, and that is okay. If you haven't read Mockingbird and you want to read this book, just read Mockingbird. In fact, just ignore this book in any capacity. It is what the rest of the world seems to want to do, and it is what I will choose to do. Perhaps this should have been released with a special edition of Mockingbird, but in the end, this just isn't what we have here. Instead we have a full, standalone release that, I feel should not have been given to the public. I give it a two out of five.